South Yorkshire mayoral candidates asked to support pledge to bring buses back under public control

The Bus Review Commissioners: Clive Betts MP; Kristine Beuret; Stephen Joseph; Martin Mayer; Dawn Badminton-Capps and Lily Currie have written to all the mayoral candidates to commit to public control of South Yorkshire buses.

One of the key recommendations from the Bus Review was to bring South Yorkshire buses back under public control with franchising in a bid to lead to ‘far more control and accountability for the people of South Yorkshire on how their bus service is run’.

Mr Betts, who leads the Commissioners, said: “The groundwork has been laid for serious reform to how we run buses in South Yorkshire, and I am eager to know that the candidates who will follow on from Dan Jarvis support this serious change we desperately need.

“The panel that led the bus review have outlined three very tangible and clear goals to get this process started and we hope to see the new South Yorkshire embrace them to help improve our bus system urgently.”

The three goals referred to by Mr Betts are: appointing a Bus Franchising Progress Manager to ensure the assessment is delivered on time and on budget; taking the first step in the franchising process; requesting data from the bus operators within their first two months in office and outlining a clear timetable, with monthly goals, to help the public measure progress on franchising.

The candidates for South Yorkshire mayoral election which takes place on May 5, 2022, includes: Simon Biltcliffe, Yorkshire Party; Oliver Coppard, Labour; Joe Otten, Liberal Democrats; Clive Watkinson, Conservatives and Bex Whyman, Green Party.

Mr Betts added: “Other regions have shown this process is possible, even with the failure of national Government to invest and support areas, so we really want to see that these plans are being looked at seriously for South Yorkshire and plans set in motion to bring buses back into public control.

“This is of course only a necessary first step and alone will not fix public transport for the region. The Government also needs to increase public transport spending for South Yorkshire, so it is on par with other parts of the country such as London.”

“That is something the South Yorkshire Mayor will need to fight for, and they will have my full support in doing so.”